What I will miss about NC

I moved to North Carolina just over 7 years ago.  And later this week I will be moving away.  So I thought I would write a couple of posts about North Carolina.  Yesterday I wrote about the things I will be glad to not deal with once I leave North Carolina. Today I am writing about the things I will miss about NC.

• My house – I have lived in the same house for 5 years.  I believe that is the longest time with only one address in my entire lifetime.  Not only have I lived in the same house for 5 years. But it is a really nice house with really good grass in the front yard.  I have issues with that sycamore tree in the front yard, and I'm not crazy about the utility room being on the carport, but otherwise I’ll miss this place.
• Distance from my family – I know what you are thinking.  This was on yesterday’s list, you are right it was.  It is a bit of a bummer living so far from family.  But there are some positives about it as well. When you live 1/3rd of the country away from your family you only see them about 3 times a year.  It turns out, that seeing less of my family makes me appreciate them a lot more.
• CBC – I really enjoy my classes at Carolina Bible College.  Teaching adults is very different than teaching teenagers, which is what I have done for the last 13 years.  But it is a nice break and I get to delve deeper into topics I can often only scrape the surface of when teaching teens.  Also, my students are generally appreciative of my teaching, even if not my grading.
• Cookout & MiCasita – Two very different restaurants go here on the list.  Mi Casita is a Fayetteville Mexican restaurant where I eat pretty much weekly.  I will miss it very much.  Cookout is a fast food restaurant that is unique to North Carolina.  The food is wonderful.  Seriously, where else can you get a double cheeseburger with fries and chicken nuggets plus a drink for under 5 bucks.  I’ll tell you - nowhere.  Also, it has without question, the best milkshake in any fast-food place anywhere.  My favorite fast food restaurant will now be hundreds of miles away. Sad.
• The watershed lake I fish regularly – I love fishing.  And for the last 4 years I have had the opportunity to fish a healthy lake with virtually no fishing pressure.  I have fished there dozens of times and could count on one hand the occasions when there was more than one boat in the water.  Last year alone I had 3 bass that would have been my best fish ever if I could get them into the boat.  I have caught bass, pickerel, bluegill, shellcrackers, and crappie in healthy amounts from that lake.  I hardly ever have a bad day in that lake and I will definitely be sad when I can’t drive 5 minutes and be there.
• My friends and church family – Let’s be honest, the really sad part of moving is not going a long way from a great restaurant, or a house, or a lake, or any of those things.  The hard part is leaving behind all the people.  I will not attempt to name all the folks here who I will miss.  I will miss friends from seminary, pastors in my association, students and colleagues at CBC and loads for people from my church family.   There are many people in NC that my life is better for knowing, and it will be a shame to leave them.  Fortunately, in this day of social media, it is possible to keep in touch much better than ever before.  It is amazing what you can learn about people’s lives through a twitter feed or through facebook.  So I’m glad for those technologies.  You people keep updating and I’ll keep reading.

What I will not miss about NC

I moved to North Carolina just over 7 years ago.  And later this week I will be moving away.  So I thought I would write a couple of posts about North Carolina.  Tomorrow I will write about the things I will miss when I leave, but today’s topic is what I will not miss about living in NC.

• The distance from my family –  It is about 700 miles from here to my hometown, I only see my family about 3 times a year
• The U.S. Army trying to shake my house apart – I have lived about a mile from Ft. Bragg for the last 5 years.  In that time I have grown accustomed to my house shaking, windows rattling, and the sort of jumpiness that comes with that.  However, that doesn’t mean I like it.  And my dog hates it.  He just roams around the house barking at some unknown enemy.  This is one thing I will not miss in the slightest.
• Bar-b-q with no smoke in it – What people call bar-b-q around here is good enough for what it is.  It just isn’t bar-b-q and I won’t miss it in the slightest.
• The traffic – All I will say here is good riddance to the traffic in Fayetteville.  I will not miss Reilly Rd.  I will not have to make Yadkin Rd., Skibo Rd., or The longest light in the world on Morganton a normal part of my day.  And for that I am glad.
• The world turning yellow every spring – I guess this is not strictly a North Carolina problem, but it is a problem all over the Deep South where pine trees are the majority.  In late March and early April everything turns yellow.  I don’t mean has a sort of yellow sheen to it, but the wind blowing through the trees looks like yellow smoke.  Cars turn yellow, the ground turns yellow.  The pollen forms a light dust on the ground that is actually slippery.  The windward side of the lake becomes coated in yellow pollen and after every cast so does your bait.  If you have never seen it, I don’t believe I can do it justice with words.
• Fire Ants – Again, I know this is not just a problem in the Sandhills of NC, but fire ants were unknown to me before I moved here.  For more on my feelings about fire ants, read this.
• People referring to chicken & dumplings as “pastries” – Nothing about that makes any sense to me on any level. Good riddance to that quirk of dialect.
• The difficulty in watching UK games – I am an SEC fan, stuck for the last 7 years in the heart of ACC country.  Kentucky is regularly preempted in favor of an ACC game.  I understand why, but I hate it.  That is one more thing I will not miss.

Great Commission ressurgence needed

I am frustrated as I write this, so the tone may not be what I am hoping for.  It may come across as a polemic rather than an illustration about the need for a great commission resurgence within the SBC. I’ll begin with some context.  Just over a year ago, the city of Fayetteville’s Dogwood festival passed a ban on all booths that promoted “religious or political views.”  Effectively this shut out all churches from the festival.

So last year the churches of greater Fayetteville made a big deal about not being allowed into the Dogwood festival.  We even held a political action rally.  This rally did not exclusively address the Dogwood Festival, but that decision was the impetus for the rally.

In response to the outrage, the board, rightly in my opinion, reversed the decision.

Political action working, right?  Yep.  We got the desired result, churches are now allowed at the festival.

Obviously then, this year, there were many churches there representing Christ, giving out free water (rather than selling beer) and telling people the life changing message that Jesus saves.  Right?  Wrong.

Three churches participated. They include, the largest church in town, a small Presbyterian church (PCA), and one church that was apparently fundraising.

There are 100 churches in the Baptist association which encompasses Fayetteville.  Many of these churches were represented at the political action rally last year.  Now let’s do the math, 100 churches in the association, zero churches participate in the festival after they hear our voice and change their policy.  That number, again, was zero.  Now, to be fair, not all 100 were at the rally, but many were.

Here’s the question; does that make us look inept, or hypocritical, or like we only want to cause trouble?  I’m afraid it sends the message that we have no time to witness because we are too busy complaining about people who will not let us witness.

To me it definitely says that we are not nearly as concerned about the gospel as we pretend to be.

By the way, my church was at the rally but not at the festival, so I am not merely casting stones.  Actually I want someone to tell me why I'm wrong to think this way.  I believe in political action, I’m glad the board reversed its decision, and I don’t expect every church in Fayetteville to be there.  I do, however, believe that we put way too much energy into fixing social issues and not nearly as much effort into spreading the gospel, even though it is the greatest message that could ever be told.

I believe that this is the perfect example of the need for a great commission resurgence. We need to have churches that focus on what's really important, the gospel.  It seems that we are currently out of whack.

(BTW - I really wanted to post this comic here because it is funny and goes with the last line.  But usage rights cost $25, which is ridiculous whenever you can just follow this link and see it for free.)

Letter to City Council

I'm planning on sending this as a e-mail to the city council later this week. I would like you, my brilliant readers, to critique it, and let me know how it could be improved.

Fayetteville City Council, and Mayor Chavonne:

My name is Jeremy Mathis, and I am writing, regarding the rezoning of the property at the corner of Reilly Road & Telfair Ave. I live in within the notification range and also am a staff member of LaGrange Park Baptist Church

What are the concerns of our church? In other words, why would we care enough for me to send you this letter?

First, we are concerned about the potential for business that might move in. I have not seen any plan as to what may open up in the property, there are no restrictions over what kind of business may move in. To put it plainly there are certain things we as a church do not want to have right next door. And regardless of what it is planned as now, once it is rezoned, there is no controlling what it might become in a few years

Secondly, we want to be the LaGrange Park Church. We are not interested in becoming between the Fast food restaurant and used car lot. Help us prevent what has happened to the Yadkin Road churches.

Thirdly, we desire to be an advocate for our community, at least to the degree that it's desire is moral. Very clearly, the will of the neighborhood is to keep that property zoned residential. It will suffice to remind you that the city council is elected, and the count in the zoning board meeting was about 20 opposed and 3 (consisting of the 2 property owners and their lawyer) in favor.

Fourthly, the only entrance to the property is from Telfair Avenue. There is no Reilly Road entrance. Therefore the only way to enter any future businesses located on this property would be to enter the neighborhood. This moves traffic further back into the neighborhood, and closer to our homes and children.

The lawyer speaking in favor, Mr Charleston, will say…

that a property owner has the right to the “highest & best” use of his property. – I honestly do not know what he means by “highest.” But as to “best,” we would all be in agreement. A property owner is entitled to the best use of his or her property. Best, however, is a contextual term. If one buys a residential property, it seems that the best use of it would be for residential. The owner can sell it, rent it out, or improve upon the property. But the best use of a residential property is residential. I definitely don’t think that this council wants to begin to say that all property is best used as commercial.

that the character of Reilly Rd is commercial. – I submit to you this photograph. Although, three of the properties in view in this photo are commercial, the character of the road is not overwhelmingly so. As you look towards the church, you see trees rather than buildings. The only sign is the one for the nail salon.

that the church is essentially a commercial property. – I would argue that we are not commercial. We are not commercial in terms of mission or function, or for the purposes that affect this council. We meet on Sunday mornings and evenings. Low traffic times on Reilly Rd, and we therefore have little impact or effect on the traffic footprint. Otherwise on Wednesday evenings we meet at 7:00 p.m. and the rush has long since dispersed when our traffic is generated.

that there is no opposition from adjacent homes. – I say there are at least three currently empty homes in the circle. Furthermore, at least 3 of the homes in the circle are rental properties, the owners do not live there, so of course they do not care if traffic is moved closer to their homes. And there are 3 representatives of properties within the circle, here speaking in opposition.

many similar properties all over town have been rezoned - I say that those do not matter, we are only dealing with one property now and should only look at the case in hand. My mother would say, "if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you?" Please don’t jump off that cliff.

You may be thinking the die is cast, and that Reilly Road is destined to become a commercial zone. I submit that you are the holders of the die, and it will only become what you, the council, allow it to become. I would like to think that you had a very compelling reason to overrule the entire neighborhood, by rezoning this property. I urge you, don’t do it.